#TuesdayTunesday-Antony Johnston

It’s #TuesdayTunesday and today, Antony Johnston very kindly offered to answer my questions on independent publishing and writing. His novel, ‘‘The Exphoria Code’ features heoine Brigitte Sharp, whose passion for goth music and bands like ‘The Sisters Of Mercy’ informs a lot of the plot and to an extent,provides a soundtrack for the events in it.

Apart from writing , he also launched a band named Silencaeon , a heavy metal podcast called Thrash It Out and worked on EP ‘As Seasons Fleet’ with b and, ‘Waves Of Mercury

Links to the podcasts, websites and Silencaeon are all at the end of this blogpost, please check them out.

As usual, I am completely astounded and grateful at any of the authors,editors and designers who have taken the time to answer my questions, they are absolutely amazing so please check them out via the links below and support the independent books they are publishing, as well as taking a listen to to the music that they are making.

Did you make a conscious decision to work with an independent publisher for the release of ‘The Exphoria Code’?

I think I always knew it would stand more of a chance with an indie than one of the big publishing houses, because it’s so unusual. Or rather, I don’t think the book is unusual, but I know many do; a man, writing a woman, who’s involved in cyber-espionage, but also belongs to an underground subculture and has a family life, etc etc. It doesn’t slot neatly into any one marketing category. Scott Pack (Lightning editor at large) didn’t care, he just loved the book, and that’s all an author can ask for in a publisher.

That said, I’m a bit of a control freak, and that was also part of the attraction. Lightning consulted with me on everything from typography to cover design. Many people don’t realise that’s not always the case with larger publishers. I know people whose books have been renamed without their input, and published with a cover they had no hand in choosing. That wouldn’t happen at Lightning.

A lot of your work concerns spying, espionage and the keeping of state secrets. What is it that attracts you to this particular genre, especially the female representation of spies in the forms of Lorraine Broughton and Brigitte Sharp? Given the current climate in the UK, do you foresee a continued interest in these stories and that they are more relevant than ever before?

I love mysteries of all kinds. Practically every story I write has some kind of mystery at its core, whatever the genre and setting — everything from “Stealing Life” to “The Fuse” to “Wasteland” to my “Shang-Chi” miniseries all revolve around a mystery or secret that must be unravelled. Espionage is perhaps the ultimate extension of that, where everyone has secrets, every action is a mystery, and what’s at stake is literally the fate of nations.

The female representation came about for a number of reasons. Firstly, I’ve been writing female lead characters for many years, going right back to my very first graphic novel and many others besides. That said, “The Coldest City” was originally conceived with a male lead, but there was something missing, some spark. As soon as I changed the lead to a female — Lorraine, the super-competent woman in a man’s world, constantly underestimated by those same men — everything clicked into place.

For “The Exphoria Code”, it just felt right that the protagonist should be a woman. Not to examine the misogynist aspects as much, although they’re certainly present, but more because a female hacker is still unusual in fiction. Brigitte also allowed me to have a more emotionally honest character than I felt I could have achieved with a male character. She gets put through the wringer in that book, and I wanted to be able to examine the fallout from that.

Book 2 in the Brigitte Sharp series-any hints as to when it could be released please?

“The Tempus Project” is with Lightning now, and planned for release in spring 2020, I believe. I don’t know a specific date yet, but as soon as I do I’ll be sure to shout it from the rooftops.

(And people who want to hear me do that can follow me on Twitter @AntonyJohnston, or sign up to my newsletter at my website, www.AntonyJohnston.com — just make sure you spell it right)

How did it feel when you became a New York Times bestselling author?

That was lovely, and kind of surreal; being able to put those words in front of your name is a privilege, for sure.

With regards to the graphic adaptations of the Alex Rider novels and working on Daredevil, how you make an established character your own? Was it difficult to balance expectations of current readers whilst bringing in a new audience?

I don’t let that side of things worry me. Perhaps that makes me unusual, but to me there’s no point in doing adaptations, or taking over an existing character, if you don’t put something of yourself into their portrayal. If my name is going on the cover of a story, then it’s going to feel like one of my stories. If I happen to strike that balance you mention along the way, great; but I won’t let concern for that get in the way of what I’m writing.

Did working for Marvel give you a kind of leverage to work on your own projects? Various interviews quote actors saying that doing the big, blockbuster type features gives you the financial/creative freedom to go after passion projects/fund indies?

Ah, if only authors earned as much as movie stars…! The thing is, I broke into comics with original projects in the first place, and they’ve always been the bulk of my career. I’d already been creating my own titles for more than a decade before I even began work on Daredevil, and I’ve continued to do so afterwards.

Alan Moore-how did you end you working with him and what was it like? He recently announced that he is retiring ,for good this time since he first announced this back in 2016. Was that a big shock as he is such a figurehead for creative control? And did he have any advice on dealing with the movie adaptation of ‘The Coldest City’?

I began adapting Alan’s prose work for comics — and let’s just pause for a moment to consider how surreal that notion is — early in my career, and being someone who grew up as an avid fan of his work, it was kind of terrifying. Luckily, Alan gave me his full support, and couldn’t have been more gracious with the creative freedom he allowed me. The result was some great work of which I’m very proud.

I wasn’t at all shocked by his retirement announcement. Anyone who knows Alan could tell you it was on the cards. As for advice, we’ve never discussed “Atomic Blonde” specifically… but many, many years ago the subject of movies came up, and all Alan said was, “What you must remember about Hollywood, Antony, is that they’re all completely insane.” I love working in movies, but he wasn’t wrong, you know?

In 2018, Charlize Theron confirmed a sequel to ‘Atomic Blonde’ is in the works-is it independent of the source material or are you involved in any way?

I’m involved, but it’s all still at a very early stage.

What’s the worst piece of advice that you have been given as a multi-media artist?

I don’t think anyone’s ever given me bad advice in that area, because when I was starting out so few people moved between and across media to the extent that I do. Also, I’m pretty bloody-minded; I rarely ask for advice anyway. The funniest comment I ever got in hindsight was someone who, upon learning I was writing “The Coldest City”, opined that Cold War stories were old hat and nobody would be interested…

Do you feel that there is more creative freedom to work on multiple platforms as an artist now, in the age of the internet, than when you first started?

Absolutely, but I don’t know if that’s entirely down to the Internet. It’s also connected to the rise of personality branding, and the sheer financial need to have multiple revenue streams in order to make a living as a creative person.

Is there a comic which influenced you as a child and made you think ‘That’s what I want to do when I grow up’?

2000AD, the British anthology comic featuring Judge Dredd, was a big influence on me as a teenager. But I’d already decided many years before that I wanted to tell stories. I grew up reading sci-fi and fantasy books, as well as devouring comics and movies, and playing role-playing games, and they all fuelled my desire to be a storyteller.

Do you have any time to play games these days as you have such a prolific output and many irons in fires? Do you have any new games coming out or are you focussing on writing other projects at the moment?

I don’t have as much free time to play games any more, but I also don’t have a choice, as keeping up with the industry is important. I am indeed working on a big new game at the moment, but it’s not yet announced, so I can’t say what it is. As always, though, I look forward to people experiencing it.

If you could recommend a book to the readers of this interview, what would it be and why?

“The Exphoria Code”, naturally; followed by a pre-order for “The Tempus Project”!

So there we have it! A wealth of information and some gloriously exclusive nuggets about working in the book and film industry. I absolutely encourage anyone reading this to grab themselves a copy of ‘The Exphoria Code’ and sign up to the Eye Books newsletter and Antony’s to keep up to date with his next novel ‘The Tempus Project‘

* All throughout August ,Eye Books are giving a 30% discount on books with the code RACHELREADIT along with free shipping so don’t miss out!*

One last indulgence…this was my personal favourite song by S.O.M, it played on a loop as a teen and came back with a vengeance as an ear worm whilst reading ‘The Exphoria Code’. For those who haven’t heard it before, or those who haven’t heard it in a long time, here is ‘This Corrosion’

About the author…

Antony Johnston is a New York Times bestselling writer of books, graphic novels, film, and videogames. The Charlize Theron movie,Atomic Blonde is based on his graphic novel ‘The Coldest City’; his epic series Wasteland is one of only a handful of such longform achievements in comics; and Dead Space, his first videogame, redefined its genre.

Antony’s other books and graphic novels include ‘The Exphoria Code’, ‘The Fuse’, Daredevil, ‘Julius’, the ‘Alex Rider’ graphic novels, ‘Dead Space transmedia comics, and the adaptation of Alan Moore’s ‘lost screenplay’ ‘Fashion Beast’.

His video games include Shadow Of Mordor, Blackwood Crossing, The Assembly, Dead Space:Extraction, ZombiU, and more.

Antony also hosts the podcast Unjustly Maligned, and records music under the alias Silencaeon.

He lives and works in England.

Links-http://antonyjohnston.com/

https://www.theincomparable.com/ump/

https://silencaeon.bandcamp.com/

http://eye-books.com/

Twitter @AntonyJohnston

@EyeAndLightning